Time is Running Out
by xwhiteheartx
Summary: Battling against the clock to prove one of their own innocent, the killer will stop at nothing to make sure that Five-0 is torn apart permanently...
1. Chapter 1

_Aloha! Hey sorry I have been absent recently but I have my really important exams just now and I promised myself I wouldn't write until they were over but I just couldn't walk away from McDanno, especially after 419! Massive shout out to mirs13 who is a fantastic beta to me and these stories would be rubbish with out her! I also want to thank Blake for being there for me and to keep telling me to keep going! This one if for her! Mahalo and Keep Smiling :)_

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"All I am saying Danny, is that you could have tried harder to make things work with Amber." Steve turned the new Camaro into a parking space at HQ and got out, slamming the door shut, thinking about how he still preferred the silver one. It had been three weeks since they had admitted they loved each other after their close call in the collapsed building and they have both refused to mention it again.

Last week things with Danny and Amber had fallen apart. Danny had ended up spending the night at Steve's, unloading all his doubts and worries about the relationship, as he slowly but surely got drunk. The next morning he had woken up surrounded by a white fluffy duvet and the sound of waves gently crashing against the shore, but he wasn't in his bedroom, he was in Steve's! When he finally gathered up the courage, he went downstairs to see Steve camped out on the couch, clearly still sleeping with half of his freakishly giant body hanging off the side of his sofa letting out a soft grunt as Danny stepped on the creaky floorboard at the bottom of the staircase. Danny suddenly felt overwhelmingly guilty having unloaded all his problems on the emotionally stunted SEAL and then stealing his bed, not that he could remember how he got there in the first place.

When the knocked out SEAL finally awoke, Danny had managed to work his Star Trek coffee machine and taken a desperately needed shower to get rid of the overwhelming stench of alcohol. The downside to this –in his opinion- was that Steve did not own such a thing as hair gel or a decent comb for that matter, so his normally gorgeous, well-kept, golden locks were now sharp and sticking out in all directions. Steve on the other hand, couldn't help but smile fondly over the top of his coffee cup when being faced with that sight first thing in the morning.

"Well what can I say, it's like you said,I obviously don't have it in my genes to be happy." Danny shrugged as he walked into HQ, using his free hand – the one that wasn't holding the greasy bag of malasadas – to hold the glass door open for Steve to walk through, but he just stood there with a pout on his face and his muscled tattooed arms folded across his chest with his eyebrow slightly raised. "I thought we went over this babe, I told you how a door works right? Ok, let me show you again. You grab the handle…"

"Danny!" Steve cut him off before he could continue with another one of his over exaggerated walk throughs on how to use a door. He was using that look, the look that told Danny this wasn't a laughing matter, that he cared and this wasn't going to be dropped, so it would be better to just talk it through now before he made Danny talk about it against his will.

Sighing deeply, Danny released the door which slammed shut, leaving no interruptions to fill the eerie silence that had overtaken their normal married couple banter. "Look, I don't know ok, maybe I am just not a fit boyfriend. I have a busy job, a little girl who takes up my world and a maniac partner who tries to get me killed on a daily basis who I would be lost without, so I guess all the space in my heart has already been taken up." He shrugged, stuffing his hands back in his pockets after using them to prove his point. He avoided eye contact with Steve, but he did manage to notice and give appreciation to Steve's amazing impersonation of a goldfish.

Shaking his head back into the land of the living, Steve shuffled on his feet. "Danny...I had..." but of course it was just Steve's luck that Chin would come and stick his head out the door at that precise moment.

"Guys, you do know that we work on this side of the door right?" he said light heartedly as he hurried back into the office to the sound of a laughing Kalakaua. The Kalakaua is a very rare species now a days, last one of its kind, and if she wasn't careful, then they would become extinct quicker than expected when Steve got his hands on her for interrupting this.

Danny had started to walk back into the office when Steve grabbed his elbow, pulling him back with ease, leaning into his ear until Danny could feel his warm breath push off his skin and whispered delicately in his ear "This isn't over baby. I will get it out of you!"

Running his tongue along the inside of his open mouth before settling on a sly grin and a cocked eyebrow, pressing his chest against Steve's, Danny whispered back, "I look forward to seeing you try, McGarrett" before wiggling free and once again opening the door for Steve to walk through first, at least he got the hang of it this time.

"Boss and other boss, nice of you two to join us, not like we are on a case or anything are we Chin?" Kono asked sarcastically, turning to face her cousin who shook his head and put his hands on his hips in an almost pantomime like fashion, crumpling his striped shirt under his crushing knuckles.

"Well Kono, we are actually in the middle of trying to solve a triple homicide, but these two don't need to worry about it. We should leave them to the very important flirting that was going on outside the office, you know they can't focus without it!" laughed Chin, keeping his gorgeous smile plastered across his lips, as he started to tap away at the computer. Kono on the other hand, continued to play it up a bit more, until Danny snapped.

"If you guys want to keep your jobs, then I would suggest that you stop now. What do you think babe?" Danny asked, snuggling in against Steve's chest and wrapping his hands around his waist. It took Steve a second to get with the programme, but he finally caught on and wrapped his arms around Danny's shoulders pulling him close, kissing him on top of the head, giving Danny the big love struck eyes and saying sickeningly sweet, "If that's what you think sugar, then I am fine with it." Danny gladly returned the loving eyes and both doubling up on a big sigh like you see in the cheesy movies. Only to be interrupted by a cough from Kono.

"Technically only Steve can fire us…" she said fist bumping Chin who momentarily looked up at the sight that had unravelled in front of him and couldn't help but hide a sneaky little knowing smile. Pleased with herself and her quick wit that was now even challenging Danny, she picked up her takeaway coffee and took a long drink from it which she shortly spat back out.

"Oh come on cuz, not the computer!" Nagged Chin as he grabbed some tissues from the desk behind him, precisely for such an emergency, and started wiping away at the touch screen, sending files and photos over the many screens all around the office

"What did you say?" Trying to focus on the boys instead of the pain, Kono stole one of Chins many tissues to wipe away the hot coffee that was now burning her skin through her once white tank top.

"I said, he controls you, but I control him, in more ways than one!" Danny repeated, laughing at the similar expressions between Steve and Kono, both resembling a fish out of water. "I control his wallet as well as his work, Miss Kalakaua, and I would appreciate you keeping your dirty mind out of the office." Danny laughed as he untangled himself from Steve and picked up one of the spare coffee cups before offering a malasda to Chin, who graciously accepted. Meanwhile, Kono and Steve shared a questioning look before shrugging it off, yet Steve had never felt more empty, like there was now a Danny shaped hole missing from his heart, almost like a missing limb.

"Guys, we seriously do have a case. I would like you to meet our latest victim, Kalake Jones, native, mid-twenties, a nurse at Kuakini medical centre. We spoke to the head of her unit and they said she took great pleasure in her work and that all of the patients loved her. She was found in her apartment. A neighbour noticed her music playing loudly and went next door to ask her to turn it down, but when they got no response, they went to the Landlord. When they entered the apartment, they found her lying against her bed. There were signs of strangulation and asphyxiation. It looks like the killer wanted to make sure she was dead. Is anyone else getting Deja vu?" Chin turned back from the computer screens to look at Steve and Danny. Steve had his arms crossed over his rumpled black tee, squinting as he concentrated. Danny was leaning on his crossed- arms, one hand to his mouth, biting his nail and tapping his foot. These were all clear signs that the boys were thinking.

"What is this, murder number three for this guy?" Danny asked, straightening up, crossing one arm and using the other to wave about for emphasis. "Found all the same way, but on the bodies of Analena Simmons and Karissa Black, there were only partial prints. Hopefully this time we will get a hit and a match to all three bodies."

"Max text us a while ago saying he would Skype us with the autopsy and toxicology results soon. We should be expecting him any minute now." Kono finished, returning to the group after disappearing to her office to change her shirt, replacing the white tank top with an identical red one.

"Have you notified next of kin?" Steve asked as he walked around the side of the table and looked at the files spread across them, phone records, credit card details, nothing that didn't say hard working woman with little time for a social life – even though she did like the film Sahara; she had rented it four times in the last six weeks.

"Same as the rest, she had no next of kin. Her parents were killed in a car crash 3 years ago. She never married and was an only child. The kid basically had nothing apart from her job and by the sounds of things, she took pride in it." Danny finished, looking up from the file that he had just read all the data from. "I mean, what kind of sick bastard kills poor, defenceless women simply trying to get on in life?"

"What kind of sick bastard kills at all? Don't worry Danno, we will get this guy, you have my word!" Steve smiled at him, resting his hand on Danny's shoulder, trying to offer some form of reassurance when Chin interrupted him.

"There is one thing that I have noticed. I thought it was just a coincidence with the past two girls, but now I am not so sure." Chin stated before getting an approving look from Steve to continue, drawing the immediate attention of the rest of the team. Chin started taping at the screens, drawing up a blank note, grabbing the stylus from the side of the table and walking to the computer screen. "The names of the victims all have one thing in common…" Chin wrote up each name of the victims, _Analena, Karissa _and _Kalake. _

This is when it finally dawned on Steve. "They all mean Grace" he said, but without thinking. His gaze immediately went to Danny as he looked at the photos of the dead girls' bodies, his own noticeably shaking. Finally drawing in a harsh breath, Danny locked his eyes with Steve, clearly at a loss for words, which was unusual for Danny. He was just about to ask for any form of explanation, but was sadly interrupted when Max came bursting into the office, trench coat and hat pulled down. He turned around and locked the door to the offices and checked to make sure no one was coming.

"Hey Max, you going for the whole Inspector Gadget look? Because I must say, it's not going to well babe." Danny laughed, obviously trying to avoid talking about the bombshell that had been dropped on him. The team joined in with him, but Max's expression remained deadly serious. They all stopped laughing and understood that this was important, whatever it was. If it was important enough for Max to leave the company of his frozen buddies, then this was not a laughing matter.

There was not even a hello before Max started tapping wildly at the computer. Steve could see Chin tense, but he couldn't even manage a smile as all the other members of Five-0 started to quiz Max as to what was wrong. Finally Kono grabbed his arm and demanded to know what was going on.

"I dusted the body of Miss Jones this morning and I got several identifiable prints. I ran them through the database against the partials from the other victims. At first I thought there was a fault in the system when the results came up, but then I ran a hair that I found at the crime scene and I got the same hit. There is no mistake! The person these prints belong to is your killer," Max exclaimed wrestling from Kono's grip and tapping at the screen once again before swiping up the hit to the main screen. "The finger prints and the hair belong to you, Detective Williams…"


	2. Chapter 2

**_Ok maybe I haven't made this clear enough, I AM A MCDANNO SLASH WRITER! that is all I wrote and all I will write so please if your are just going to slag the fact I ship a homosexual couple frankly I would prefer you just didn't bother reading my story, I don't need the negative feedback. So please don't bother leaving me a comment telling me to "grow up" and that my story is "mcdanno rubbish" just back off and read your straight fanfiction aka not me! Hey there just a quick note to say I am so glad you have come back to this story and a huge shout out to my amazing beta mirs13! Please read and review Mahalo and Keep Smiling :)_**

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_"__The finger prints and the hair were yours Detective Williams…"_

Steve turned to face Danny, who was mirroring him with his own unique look of shock, as he glanced back at his team mates. Everyone of them was wearing their own different looks of confusion. How the hell could Danny's prints have ended up on the body or his hair at the scene? Steve just simply couldn't understand.

"What is the estimated TOD, Max?" Steve asked looking away from the utterly dumfounded Danny as he ran his hands through his hair, ruining any form of order he had previously managed to achieve. He was continuously rubbing his hands over his face as he tried to make some sense of the whole situation.

"I estimate the time of death between 2 and 4 last night" Max concluded, retreating back into his dull tones. He was just as shocked as the rest of Five-0. He didn't believe for one second that Danny would kill and innocent woman. He had killed before sure, but that was not out of choice, that was because of his job. Sometimes you had to make that tough call and pull the trigger. The power of taking a life is a gift and a curse. He knew all about this from his previous run in with the man who murdered his mother.

Steve let out a sigh in relief. "Danny was camped out in my bed last night, all night. He was utterly hammered. He couldn't have lifted a pinkie let alone kill someone!" Steve laughed as Kono and Danny joined in, but Chin remained solemn, staring at the computer screen he had retaken control of.

"Guys, I have the camera feed outside of HQ here. We have a lot more HPD surrounding the building than I am particularly comfortable with, not to mention that SWAT is here too." Chin replied glancing up and looking at all his team, but they didn't seem to be getting it "As soon as matches are confirmed to DNA, they are automatically logged into the HPD data base. With a case as big as this, everyone is monitoring our progress. Danny, they are here for you!"

Shaking his head in disbelief and running a hand over his mouth, Danny looked to Steve who walked over to him and pushed him towards the door. "Until we get this sorted out Danny, you can't be here." Steve turns to Max and shouts for him to toss his keys, catching them in one fluid motion. "Take Max's car and get somewhere safe. Turn the GPS off on your phone. I will find you when we have all this straightened out. Just run, NOW!" Danny quickly turned around to face Steve with a look of uncertainty on his face. He wasn't sure whether it was the fact he was tired of waiting or that he didn't know when or if the team was going to get this sorted out, but he wrapped his hand around the back of Steve's neck and pulled him down until their lips met. He was going to make sure Steve knew how he felt in case he never saw him again. The relief that flowed over Danny when Steve started kissing him back was almost paralysing. He pulled Steve in closer and tighter against his body, teasing his tongue along Steve's lips, as his hands made their way down to his hips. Steve reluctantly pulled away and rested his forehead against Danny's panting heavily with his eyes closed. Danny pushed up and whispered in Steve's ear before falling back against his forehead. "Run!" Steve growled and with those final words, Danny pulled back and ran from the office.

After returning to his senses and opening his eyes, Steve turned back to face his team all staring at him utterly gobsmacked. Walking back to the computer, his mind replayed the kiss again and again as he licked his lips still tasting Danny on them. He wondered why they hadn't been doing that the whole time.

"We have no idea where Danny is understood? If anyone has a problem with that, then I suggest you leave now. I am not fighting this to have someone I'm relying on walk away or give us up later, especially when Danny needs us most…" Steve finished refusing to look up from the computer until he felt Chins hand grip his shoulder, shaking him gently.

"It's not going to happen Steve, I won't let it. We are not leaving him, he's Ohana and he didn't do this. I'm not letting this go until Danny is proven innocent and the son of a bitch that really did do this is rotting in a jail cell, waiting until he greets death as a heavenly release." Chin replied sternly as Steve looked up at him wearing a soft smile. Looking around the room, he saw Kono nod and Max just smile at him. Taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders, he heard the bombarding footsteps of HPD bellowing up the stairs and towards the office.

"Let's prove our guy innocent then." Steve finished as HPD breeched, guns drawn and shouting for suspect Detective Williams.

Bursting out the doors of Five-0, Danny ran down the corridor to the changing room outside the gym, grabbing a baggy jacket and baseball cap. Throwing them on, he covered his badge, gun and distinctive blonde hair. Jogging down the back steps of the offices, Danny drunkenly walked straight passed dozens of HPD officers as they breeched the Palace. Jumping into Max's car and starting the engine, Danny tore out of the parking lot heading to his safe place.

"We will ask you once more Commander McGarrett, where is Detective Williams?" asked one of the officers who had been grilling the occupants of the Five-0 office for nearly half an hour now.

"And I will tell you once more, I don't know where Detective Williams is and if I did, I wouldn't be humouring you with it!" Steve spat through gritted teeth, leaning back against his desk. Now it was time for the good cop bit and he knew it all too well. He had played this card several times; he just wished he wasn't on the receiving end of it.

"Listen Commander, we know you are just trying to protect your friend, but Detective Williams is the main suspect in the murder of three innocent girls. All we need is to verify his whereabouts last night when the third murder was committed and then we can put this whole nasty mess behind us." The cop smiled at him, trying to appeal to his sentimental side.

"Now it's my turn. It is impossible for Detective Williams to have committed murder last night because he was at my place the entire night, out of his mind drunk. We were trying to get the images of those poor, tortured girls with the look of sheer horror in their eyes, out of our heads! When you face stuff like that day in and day out, you will try and do anything to numb the pain." Steve finished, looking the officer up and down and then away to the bullpen where Chin, Kono and Max were all getting interrogated.

"And you know Detective Williams was in your house the entire night? Did he camp out on your couch?" the uniform was loving this far too much.

"No, he was in my bed. I was on the couch" replied Steve through gritted teeth as the uniform smiled smugly at him, looking him up and down like any other scum bag he met on the streets.

"So you weren't with him the entire night? So it is possible he could have gotten up in the middle of the night, committed the murder, and returned without you knowing? Was he still in your bed when you woke up?"

"No, when he went upstairs I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to him making coffee. Look, I know Danny. He would never do something like this. It's these kinds of cases he always wants to get the people for. He has a daughter nearly the same age as those girls!" Steve raised his voice enraged.

"Men with daughters have killed before Commander and seeing as you cannot verify his whereabouts for the entire night…" the uniform stood up and walked out into the bullpen, attracting the attention of all his fellow officers. "I am issuing an arrest warrant for Detective Daniel Williams and order there to be a press release within the hour. He is to be classified as armed and dangerous and he should be approached with extreme caution. He has killed before, so there is no saying that he won't resort to such drastic measures again." The world around him suddenly went from peaceful to chaotic in a matter of minutes and Steve just stared at the flurry of uniforms storming around searching Danny's office, his drawers, you name it, if it was Danny's, they were tearing it apart. The officer who gave the order turned around to face Steve and smugly commented, "Try and save him from this one McGarrett!"


	3. Chapter 3

**_Hey guys I just want to say a huge thankyou to all you amazing readers that stuck up for me and for my stories it really meant a lot to me that you guys like my stories enough to stand up against homophobic jackasses so again thanks. I hope you enjoy the chapter drop me a review and let me know, Keep Smiling :)_**

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**_"Try and save him from this one McGarrett…"_**

There he was, pacing back and forth, back and forth, and Danny didn't know what to do with himself. In a matter of hours, he had gone from being a well-respected Five-0 Detective, to a fugitive. A fugitive, who finally kissed his partner, on the run for a triple homicide he didn't commit. A fugitive now, looking around at his surroundings, living on the cliffs. The light had started to fade behind the ocean as Danny sat on the ledge where Steve had taken that almost lethal fall four years ago. He hoped Steve would have been here by now. Pulling the baggy jacket he had taken from the locker room up around his neck and the baseball cap down over his eyes, he started to doze off.

Hours or minutes later, he wasn't sure which, he was awoken by the sound of someone shouting his name. At first he just assumed it was a dream, until he felt a beam of light bounce off his eyelids and the shouting get louder. Tossing his head from side to side, he pushed himself up off the cold ground and leaned against the cliff face, finally opening his eyes and shouting a reply, "Here! Here! Over here!"

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he heard the pace of footsteps pick up and draw nearer, until he could make out who it was that had found him. "Steve…" he whispered, but Steve didn't stop running. Steve ran right up to him, throwing the torch down, and clasping Danny's face in his hands. Steve smiled in relief and brought Danny's lips up to meet his own. Danny, taken by surprise for the first few seconds, finally caught up with the proceedings. He snaked his arms around Steve's neck, as Steve worked his arms around Danny's waist pulling him in flush, earning a moan from Danny as Steve bit down on his bottom lip.

After a few minutes of kissing and groping Danny up against the cliff face, Steve finally pulled away for that pesky need to breathe. Resting his forehead against Danny's he began to speak, "I was so worried Danny. At first, when you whispered to me where to find you, I couldn't think where you meant. Then HPD came barging in and questioning us, talking as if you were some scumbag we arrest on a daily basis. Danny, they called for a press conference broadcasting the fact you murdered those three girls. They also put out an arrest warrant for you. They want your head Danno. This has gotten completely out of hand." Steve finally took a breath. As he finished speaking, Danny stood in Steve's arms, his eyes closed, trying to take steady breaths.

"What did you tell Grace?" He needed to know his little girl found out what was going on from someone he trusted. He didn't want her learning that her Danno was a fugitive on the news or from some shmuck at school.

"The truth" Steve answered, pulling back from Danny and placing a light kiss on his lips for reassurance if anything else. "She's a smart kid and knows her Danno didn't do the things everyone will be accusing him of. She wanted me to tell you that she loves her Danno and that your Super SEAL better look after you. And Danny, I intend to. Rachel and Stan have taken her to visit friends on the Mainland, for her own safety, until this is all cleared up. However, there is something I need you to explain to me," Steve paused, pulling Danny down with him as they sat on the ledge looking out over the island, completely invisible to the rest of the world. "Why did you kiss me?"

Of course Danny thought, this would be the one time Steve would actually choose to talk about this. He took a deep breath and looked out over the rolling hills. He wasn't going to be able to get out of this conversation, so he might as well take it like a man. "Ok, you know when the bomb caused the parking lot to crash down on us and how you decided to blow up a slab of concrete to get us out? Well, you said you loved me, but I didn't say it back and it dawned on me, when you lit that fuse, if we died in that explosion, you would never have known how I felt about you. So when we got out, I told you I loved you, but I guess you took it in a joking way or maybe even a brotherly way. You definitely did not take it the way I meant it, so I went with Amber, but I just couldn't be with her. She isn't you and I wasn't happy. I mean, she was a sweet girl and we had fun, but she wasn't the one I pictured having a life with. Then with this whole messed up case and Catherine leaving, I just wanted to be there for you, even if it was as a friend. I knew you needed someone, so I put my feelings on hold, again. Now this happened and I … I just couldn't afford to wait any longer. I have been waiting four years already and I was bored with it." Danny hadn't even glanced at Steve the entire way through his speech, eyes remaining completely focussed on the setting horizon as the sun sunk beneath the waves yet again.

Steve was at a loss. He had no idea Danny felt that way at all, let alone for four years. They could have been doing this the entire time! Grabbing Danny's hand and intertwining their fingers, Danny smiled up at him and leaned in to place a quick kiss on his lips, no heat or passion, just pure love.

"I am completely in love with you." Steve whispered against Danny's lips, using his free hand to stroke down Danny's cheek and lift the blonde's chin up so their eyes met.

"I am completely in love with you too, you goof, even though you drive me crazy and have shaved more years off my life than I would like to think about." laughed Danny, looking fondly up at Steve. "Now, what are we going to do about the whole fugitive thing? This will be very stressful on our relationship and I'm not going to that marriage counselor Kono gave me the number of!"

"I have no idea Danno. Half of HPD is out there looking for you. They are hunting you like some kind of animal, not the guy they have been working with for the past four years, the guy that has saved their asses more times than is possible to count." Steve was getting agitated and it was blatantly obvious as he dropped Danny's hand. He pushed himself up and started to pace, looking around him, keeping his ears sharp for any unwanted visitors.

"Right, let's try and figure this out like any other case. Ok, first things first. What all the victims have in common is the fact that their names all mean Grace in different languages. To me, it is almost like they are sending me a message, trying to hit me close to home. Also, the fact they all look similar and all died the exact same way, full asphyxiation. Was there any key information from witnesses? What they looked like, signature tattoos, that kind of thing?" Danny asked, turning to Steve who was just sitting there in awe of Danny's impressive skills; managing to think rationally, even though he was being framed for three murders.

Coming back to reality, he racked his brain, going through the case back to front. "Max said they found some kind of fur down the girl's throat with some of her blood on it, possibly from the killer's gloves. He didn't find any prints around the mouth area, but they were over the rest of her body, so he must have taken them off after killing her. Also, there was one witness who said they saw someone fleeing the scene wearing red sneakers, a black hoody with some sort of logo on the back, and plain jeans."

"Right, ok, so we have three separate murders, an eye witness who saw the real killer fleeing the scene, and a possible linkage between the killing and the killer. Ok, so I'm pretty sure they are trying to frame me."

"Go figure!" laughed Steve with a fond look in his eye, but Danny gave him a slap over the back of the head.

"Shush, I am thinking. Notice the pacing…" Danny emphasised by taking long, slow strides in front of Steve, before resuming his regular pace, rubbing his hand over his chin and clenching his eyes shut. "Ok, so they already have me on the run. What would be the next step in their game plan? Evidence. They need more evidence that I did it and what's the best way to convince a bunch of cop's a guy is guilty of murder?" Danny prodded, hoping Steve was picking up what he was trying to get at.

"They are going to plant the hoody and gloves at your place. We need to get there before HPD does or they won't need any more convincing that you are guilty."


End file.
